Rita's Ramblings: a basically house-bound woman in Fargo, North Dakota blogging for friends, family, and anybody who finds it interesting. I talk about art or craft projects, my grandson (Ian), the weather, movies, books, health, and whatever happens to be going on in my life. Welcome!

Monday, August 27, 2018

Okay--for the past hour I have tried six ways from Sunday to get the picture Leah sent me of Ian getting ready to leave for his first day of preschool today off my cell phone to some place usable for the blog and I am absolutely, positively useless when it comes to technology. I give up. If I can ever post it, I will. But before I smash the phone or my laptop...I'll just tell you Ian started Montessori preschool today and is in his first class as I am writing this. He'll be going from 12:30-3:30 every day of the week and I think he will love it. Our Friday Gramma Days won't work anymore so we'll have to see if most Satudays will.

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Good news on the critter front.

The birds have slowly been returning this week!! Flocks of sparrows have returned and lots of mourning doves for the past three days. I've been feeding hungry birds again!!

Even had a cottontail visitor on afternoon who pozed frozen like this behind my planter for about 20 minutes.

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The new bookcase.

I did get before shots, but there are no after ones yet because the box is still leaning against the wall. Leah was helping her chiropractor paint his office this weekend on Sat and Sun. But--here are the before shots (because you know I will forget at the time--LOL!).

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The new bookcase is going to go in that back corner of the living room...

...where the little cube bookcase sits now.

And the little cube bookcase will go in the hallway...

...under the coat hooks rack.

See all those satchels in the hallway. After I get done in the studio those are next for cleaning and sorting. That's all crafty stuff, too...and they all should be labeled. I wouldn't take any bets on this all getting done before 2019--ROFL! But you never know. ;)

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I have plans to reorganize this pen chaos I deal with every day. Another before picture--LOL! I'll show you that after it is reorganized, too--hopefully in September. :)

I guess I must be feeling better if I am at least mentally geared up for some changes. ;)

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Serena--I think you are right that I never posted a picture of my new pocket size cover for the field note size notebooks.

Monthly budget, wish lists, what I owe Dagan and Leah...all the money stuff I keep track of in here. I've had it for months and can't remember now where I ordered it. Etsy? I do love it, though.

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Oh and here's a couple white hairs on Annie's back--LOL! One big one and one small one.

When I first saw these I thought they were loose and tried to pick them off--LOL! She also has a really long hair near a paw--if it is still there. I can't even remember if it was black or white now. She's very touchy about her feet and legs. If I ever get a chance to get a picture, I will. ;)

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How embarrassed would shy Annie be if she knew I was posting pictures of her--LOL!

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Speaking of Annie...she spent most of the day yesterday hiding in either the panty or the bathroom. We had thunderstorms with violent wind gusts that kept marching through one after the other.

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Bad news on the flower front.

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During one break I went out to rescue this planter!

The entire planter got tipped over! And it was not that light, let me tell you.

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But the worst damage was done to the one on the other side where the wind was coming from.

That coleus lost huge stalks! Snapped right off!

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So this morning I was out there cleaning up the damage. Amazingly, the tipped one barely even suffered any damage at all. Kind of landed on top of the bush in the rocks behind it.

But the other side coleus has a huge gaping hole in the center of it now.

Lost seven stalks--six little ones and the huge center one.

The front coleus that have been flowering for ages and the bees love so much...

...survived just fine.

There were three bumblebees there this morning while I was filling two little grocery sacks full of broken and dead plants.

All the daisies bit the dust except for this one red one in the tipped over planter.

What amazes me is that these delicate looking fuchsias...

...handled those wind gusts without being stripped of all those tiny flowers.

And look who was also back this morning--some grackles! Now doesn't this look like normal again? :) :)

Probably only passing through if the grackles are heading south--but I never thought it would be such a delight to have the squawking seed fights and mass pooping on my patio again. Yup--looks and sounds right and proper. Annie is thrilled to have her CatTV working again--LOL! Especially since it has been cool enough to have the patio door open at least part of the day.

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Well, I had an extra long Gramma Day on Saturday since Leah was busy helping with that painting. Ian and I basically just hung out. Had lunch, went to the mailbox, watched some Maru the Cat, went to the garage to get bird seed, watched Cars3 (again--LOL!), and had dinner. He found out there is a book to tell him words that mean similar things because he insisted he wasn't dawdling because it was called stalling...so we added a bunch of words he giggled at like procrastinate, lollygag, and dillydally. He likes it when I look up things on the laptop, too. He found out you can even hear how to pronounce words. I just love the internet!

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Ian was here really late for him (we were just having such a good time). Since bedtime is normally around 7pm and Dagan was coming over around 7:30 to pick Ian up--well, he surprised us with an idea to try something we hadn't done before. Daddy brought over Ian's bedtime stuff (pajamas, toothbrush, and storybook) so that Ian could get all ready for bed at Gramma's before he went home. What a great idea! I got to read him his bedtime story and everything. I got mighty hugs and he left blowing kisses.

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Ahhh! The only thing as wonderful as being a parent is being a grandparent. Everybody says it is better because it's only part-time and not full-time--LOL! I suppose that is true. But I loved being Dagan's mom...a lot. Maybe because I paid such close attention--not knowing how long we had together. The unexpected blessings have multiplied over the years. Sometimes I still can't believe all of this is actually happening...as Daddy and Ian go down the hallway and I am catching kisses. Who knew? I confess--as I shut the door I wiped away a tear. Joy can spill out your eyes.

Monday, August 20, 2018

It's difficult to take a photo of a black cat who's half in shadow--LOL!

I got closer at a new angle.

Wanted to show you that Annie is getting stray long white hairs in her old age--LOL! Maybe you can see it on her upper arm. Can click to enbiggen--LOL! (Isn't that a funny word somebody made up?!)

She has a couple more but she's not that easy to get pictures of. Easier now that when she arrived a year ago, though--LOL! I'll try to get pictures as I can. These lone grey hairs crack me up. Maybe because this old lady is also dealing with stray hairs showing up where they never used to be--ROFL!

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I am getting a few stray birds. Twice there was a small group here that reminded me of old times. Not 20-30 of them, but 5-8. I'll take it.

But this is 1/2 cup of birdseed (vs the 2-4 cups I could put out and they wanted more) after TWO DAYS. Very few birds still. I have seen a lone bee twice. Pretty quiet out there.

The bookcase arrived!!

This giant guy (I'm only 5' 1" and he almost could hit his head on the door frame) carried it in over his shoulder like it was nothing (over 70 lb.) on a 90 degree day. Such a sweet man. I had a place ready for it right inside the door and he brought it in for me, too. (Some of them will not enter your apartment even a couple feet because it's against the rules, I believe.) The bookcase is still there--until we can arrange for a bookcase assembly day. ;)

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I've been very slowly plugging away in the studio. Been basically working on this one bookcase...but gathering in appropriate supplies from other spots that should go in this bookcase with all the extra skinny shelves.

Getting closer to done with this first one. I picked the two hardest to organize bookcases on this side of the room to tackle first. The rest will seem like a breeze. Well, not quite a breeze, but easier by comparison--LOL!

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Still sorting through stuff...

...but once in a while the tables look more cleared off before I fill them up again. ;)

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On Tuesday Caroline came to clean and Leah dropped off items from Costco and the Natural Food Store.

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On Friday it was Gramma Day! Ian had his lunch at home this time so I could set up the table for gelli printing. We only used the one small rectangular gelli plate. I ended up getting out the Pebeo iridescent acrylics in the tubes because Ian fell in love with the shimmer of the gold and silver Dick Blick matte acrylics (in the bottles you see on the right side of the table). I had picked out a bunch of mark-making trash--also on the right side of the table down front (straws, mesh that held cheeses, pill bottles, pen parts, bottle covers, parts of a syringe/ no needle, an old shower scrubber, PVC pipe samples, cardboard tape rolls, etc). Had the old gelli prints (that Ian took pictures of last week) ready to use for rolling the brayers clean and a stack of white card stock cut down to fit.

We were soooo busy all afternoon! I put the paints on, Ian brayered the paint out (until he finally got tired in the late afternoon and asked me to), we put our marks on the painted gelli plate (mostly Ian), I put the paper on top, I did most of the rubbing (Ian got tired of that after about an hour), and then Ian did most of the peeling up of the paper (the magical part!!).

You can't see well from these pictures but 3/4 of these have shimmer paint.

We had such fun!! Even drug out a few stencils.

Leah brought these back over with her (how I got pics because I forgot) because she wants to make cards out of them since they were mostly Ian's handiwork with a little guidance!! Awesome!

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My back had a rough time standing over the table for so long, though. Ian and I took a long snack break and watched Ian's favorite on youtube--Maru and Hanna. Then we went back and played some more until we had used every color of the pebeos. By that time we were both ready to quit.

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So I got the stool out for Ian so he could help scrub paint off himself, the brayers, and the supplies we didn't throw in the trash as a few were reusable. Then Gramma rested her back while Ian played "don't step in the lava" using four pillows. He moved pillows and jumped and jumped and jumped until he was exhausted and came to sit with me to watch a final couple of gelli plate videos. Leaves looks like something we should try!

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Let's just say Gramma was shot--LOL! On Saturday I never even got dressed--but Leah came over for a couple of hours in the afternoon to make those invites to Liam's birthday party. So that got done--tada! And I was still hurtin' yesterday and had another pajama day.

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Back has calmed down quite a bit by today, so I have been doing laundry and bedding. I am even able to sit here to blog without having to get up as often. (Knock on wood.) Annie is sleeping in the chair next to me at the table. No birds. I was out cleaning up the planters and watering earlier--put out a whole cup of seed--and I think I have seen one sparrow stop for a snack. Oh well. I'm sure hungry birds will be here this fall when it gets cold. If they aren't coming around then--I'll be shocked.

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We've had troubles with sharing photos lately. This is the only one that came through. It's a little blurry--but I love it. Daddy and Liam--eye to eye, nose to nose.

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Maybe this week--or sometime soon--we'll get the bookcase together and move things around in here. I will try to remember to get before and after pics. During? Always questionable with me but I hope so.

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Ian saw the box and right away said he wanted to help put the bookcase together. I said I don't know what the plans will be. Could be just Mama and me--don't know yet. He loves to help, though.

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Some rain came through that helped clear some of the smoke out of the air and dropped the temperature from around 90 down to mid-70s. Ahhhh! Loving it. Have had the patio door open yesterday and today. Very, very quiet with no birds. The flowers look a little better, though. Maybe they are breathing a sigh of relief from the sweltering weather, too. ;)

Monday, August 13, 2018

On one of our 90 degree days a mourning dove just sat in the water dish for about 15 minutes. One of the few birds I have seen this week.

Been quite the mystery here as to what happened to the birds and what is happening to my plants? The marigolds in this planter began turning brown and dying a little over a week ago.

And other than a few sparrows, one sickly looking grackle, and a couple of mourning doves--all the birds have disappeared. No flocks at all. I used to put out a couple big tin cups of seed once or twice a day. Now I can put out less than half a cup and there will be seed left the following day. ???

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At first I thought the hawk had been here because that will keep them away for a day or two, but this has been more like ten days now. No bees, either. The only thing I can think of is that when they pulled the weeds around the building that maybe they also used some kind of toxic weed killer. If they happened to hit those marigolds on that corner that could explain why only one batch is turning brown.

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But all the plants seemed stressed. I'm losing marigolds almost a dozen a day. The geraniums have almost quit blooming and even the huge coleus are a bit limper than they were. It's been very hot, but I have been watering every day...and the heat used to bring the birds here in droves for an easy meal, a drink, and cooling bath. ??

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Disconcerting.

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I miss them.

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Annie misses them.

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Anyways, I have been slowly plugging away in the studio.

As most of you know, it gets worse before it gets better.

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I had Ian here for Gramma Day on Friday. We changed another big round light bulb in the bathroom and filled the hand soap container...after his two hour lunch. (He was a dawdler to say the least.)

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After lunch and tasks we had to check in with Maru and Hanna on YouTube, of course, and then were watching a video on gelli printing. Ian had a new camera and told me he wanted to take pictures of art...just art.

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While cleaning in the studio I had just run across a stack of gelli printing papers that Leah, Dagan, and I practice-played with years ago--oh, and some pages taken out of an old art journal. I gave them to Ian and he laid them all out on the floor and took pictures of "art".

He took pictures and pictures and pictures...

...until the battery died on his camera.

Now I can throw these away. Not sure why I kept them in the first place--LOL! Of course, we can clean off the brayers on them. That may have been why. ;)

I showed Ian my gelli plates and the brayers. Told him if he doesn't dawdle next week (he also dawdled forever getting dressed and came later than usual--almost didn't get to come) and if he hurries to eat lunch before he comes over that we could play with gelli plates. Gelli plates take a long time to set up, play with, and clean up afterwards. So we'll see how it goes. ;)

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He's at that age...where they insist on doing things themselves but then take FOREVER to do them. I remember Dagan making me want to pull my hair out--LOL! I notice how, as a slow moving grandma, I have more patience than I did back then. BUT--I don't have him every day--ROFL!!

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This month I have been good about working on brush lettering drills almost every day. I really have a difficult time with the large brushes...like this practice sheet.

I keep working at learning this, too. :)

Some of these practice drills are just fun! Of course, I prefer the smaller brushwork. Easier for me to control.

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I've kept working little by little in the studio when my knee is cooperative. That stack gathered right inside the door is all empty containers waiting for a home.

This is what the tables look like right now.

Sometimes you feel like you are just shuffling--LOL!

But I am making progress. ;)

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BUT--I had gotten afraid to walk about in there. Almost fell too many times. I tried to take a picture but it doesn't show how high up the mats are off the floor.

I had even tried flipping them over--to no avail.

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Here you can see--and my foot is not even touching the mat!

Here on the other one--not even touching!

I told Leah that the chair mats just won't go down and I was thinking of putting them outside on the patio so the 90 degree heat might flatten them. She said Dagan could bring them out to the garage for me and weight them down. He didn't make it this weekend.

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So, in order to work in there anymore, I finally drug them both out of there last night and propped them up against the bookcases in the living room behind my chair. Can you see how warped they still are?!

Despite weighting them down with boxes and books and the chair and table legs--they don't seem to have flattened at all from the day Dagan brought them over.

They are just stubbornly wavy.

I hope the hot garage will help. I have a whole bunch of bins out there to really weight them down better.

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So, that is how this past week has gone. Kind of strange in some areas, fun in some, and painful in others. Accomplishments have been/are being made. Rest has been had. Letters have been written. Shows have been watched. Since there are no birds to speak of, Annie has been playing more with her favorite toy. So, for those of you who liked her last video...here she is with more energy. Proof she can actually sit up to play. (She still prefers being prone, though--LOL!)

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The new bookcase from Office Max is due to be delivered today. I am hoping they don't leave it in the entryway like the last furniture I bought from them when I lived in West Winds. I even sent an email to them because there was no place to leave a delivery note...so time will tell.

Fingers crossed!

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The hazy smoke from the California fires seems to be moving past us. Supposed to be 92 again today. I hope the birds and the bees come back. Meanwhile--life is good.